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Tanbark & tan oak

Lithocarpus densiflorus (accepted: Notholithocarpus densiflorus) · Fagaceae · all Lithocarpus records · also called Tan oak, tanbark oak

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Separate evidence questions, never one approval badge

Set a ZIP to compare this record with state distribution, native range, USDA hardiness, and invasive records.

A genus split is not a placement verdict. Set a ZIP to read the local documented split.

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions: No test or rating condition is normalized.
Fire ecology context: No section-reviewed fire-ecology context is normalized.
Placement evidence: 1 source placement record; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: California; Global
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

Typed publication scope: 1 scope across 1 cited fire source

Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants · Official scoped edition
- CA; partial normalized coverage · 1997-07-01
  The UC Forest Products Laboratory says the guide covers properties of common California landscaping plants and was prepared for California fire agencies. FireApproved publishes 130 exact owners at historical California publication scope. The report is a 1997 compilation, not a current endorsement, site rating, or independent test of every row.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: No state distribution is normalized.
Native range: No current cited or legacy state native range is normalized.
Introduced / established: No introduced or established row is normalized; that does not prove native status.
USDA hardiness: No hardiness value is normalized.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status: Set a location for an exact legal-list result; source silence is not clearance.
Seed-list status: Set a location to compare the separate state noxious-weed seed layer.
Reported invasive here: No ecological invasive report is normalized; that does not prove noninvasiveness.
Broader regional context: Aggregate AK, HI, and L48 evidence is shown only as regional context, never as an exact-state finding.
Federal context: Federal designations remain separate from state legal-list results.

How to read this page

The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.

Form: tree
Region: EE. UU.
Rated in: California; Global
Family: Fagaceae
Evidence: 9 cited sources

Where its sources say to plant it

Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating. They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.

Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interf…: Chapter 4, Landscape Vegetation Database [ucfpl-1997] (mid-scale rating)

The evidence

Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself (a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants — University of California Forest Products Laboratory · Internal Report 36.01.137 (July 1997) · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: ucfpl-berkeley

“Conflicting information on fire performance.”

1997 Landscape Vegetation Database row: Lithocarpus (syn Notholithocarpus) densiflorus (Tanbark & tan oak) | Notholithocarpus densiflorus (Tan oak, tanbark oak). Preserved UCFPL transcription marker: C5.

Listed without a rating (8)

FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

8 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “flame height (cm): 63.6” · score 63.6 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 3244; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Engber2012-1; sampling ND. Primary study Engber2012: Engber, E. A., & Varner, J. M. (2012). Patterns of flammability of the California oaks: the role of leaf traits. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42, 1965-1975.
- “flaming duration (s): 571” · score 571 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 3262; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Engber2012-1; sampling ND. Primary study Engber2012: Engber, E. A., & Varner, J. M. (2012). Patterns of flammability of the California oaks: the role of leaf traits. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42, 1965-1975.
- “burnt biomass (%): 88.5” · score 88.5 (FLAMITS — burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 3280; Consumability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Engber2012-1; sampling ND. Primary study Engber2012: Engber, E. A., & Varner, J. M. (2012). Patterns of flammability of the California oaks: the role of leaf traits. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42, 1965-1975.
- “smouldering duration (s): 245.6” · score 245.6 (FLAMITS — smouldering duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 3298; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Engber2012-1; sampling ND. Primary study Engber2012: Engber, E. A., & Varner, J. M. (2012). Patterns of flammability of the California oaks: the role of leaf traits. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42, 1965-1975.
- “flaming duration (s): 64” · score 64 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 13567; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2017-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2017: Varner, J. M., Kuljian, H. G., & Kreye, J. K. (2017). Fires without tanoak: the effects of a non-native disease on future community flammability. Biological Invasions, 19, 2307-2317.
- “flame height (cm): 58.3” · score 58.3 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 13572; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2017-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2017: Varner, J. M., Kuljian, H. G., & Kreye, J. K. (2017). Fires without tanoak: the effects of a non-native disease on future community flammability. Biological Invasions, 19, 2307-2317.
- “smouldering duration (s): 223” · score 223 (FLAMITS — smouldering duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 13577; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2017-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2017: Varner, J. M., Kuljian, H. G., & Kreye, J. K. (2017). Fires without tanoak: the effects of a non-native disease on future community flammability. Biological Invasions, 19, 2307-2317.
- “burnt biomass (%): 87” · score 87 (FLAMITS — burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 13582; Consumability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2017-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2017: Varner, J. M., Kuljian, H. G., & Kreye, J. K. (2017). Fires without tanoak: the effects of a non-native disease on future community flammability. Biological Invasions, 19, 2307-2317.

Fire-resistant trees instead

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Quercus stellata

Red oak
Quercus rubra

Gambel Oak
Quercus gambelii

Basswood
Tilia americana

Oak
Quercus spp.

Dahurian larch
Larix gmelinii

Last verified 2026-08-25. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: GBIF ·

Lithocarpus densiflorus (Tanbark & tan oak, Tan oak, tanbark oak). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/notholithocarpus-densiflorus/. Last verified 2026-08-25.